The New “Big Three”

Last week I took a look at how the members of Atlanta’s former big three—Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine—are currently performing. It only made sense to now take a look at Atlanta’s newest incarnation of a big three. The quotes in the title do not imply sarcasm but rather denote the large dropoff in talent from one group to another.

With Smoltz now out for the season, Mike Hampton pulling a Hampton (what we can now call DL-stints for pitchers) and Chuck James pitching in AAA, Bobby Cox has had to get creative with his rotation. These three have seemingly been replaced with Jair Jurrjens, JoJo Reyes, and Jorge Campillo. So, how are the newbies faring?

Jair Jurrjens
13 GS, 6-3, 3.77 ERA, 3.74 FIP, 1.44 WHIP
76.1 IP, 78 H, 32 BB, 55 K
73.3% LOB, .313 BABIP, 1.72 K/BB
FA: 91.5mph/64.5%, SL: 80.4mph/9.3%, CH: 83.9mph/26.2%
1st 10 GS: 61.1 IP, 50 H, 18 ER, 22 BB, 45 K, +0.884 WPA, 31 RS (3.1/gm)
Last 3 GS: 15.0 IP, 28 H, 14 ER, 10 BB, 10 K, -0.764 WPA, 18 RS (6.0/gm)

Essentially, Jurrjens pitched his best when the Braves weren’t scoring for him but lately, with plenty of runs, he must have felt bad for the oppositions and let them score to make it more competitive.

JoJo Reyes
8 GS, 2-4, 4.80 ERA, 3.99 FIP, 1.42 WHIP
45 IP, 48 H, 16 BB, 42 K
68.9% LOB, .331 BABIP, 2.63 K/BB
FA: 91.3mph/63.8%, SL: 81.5mph/12.5%, CU: 72.7mph/8.6%, CH: 82.3mph/15.2%
5/28 @ Mil: 7 IP, 2 H, ER, 3 BB, 9 K, 1.29 ERA, 0.71 WHIP
All Others: 38 IP, 46 H, 23 ER, 13 BB, 33 K, 5.45 ERA, 1.55 WHIP

Reyes throws virtually the same amount of fastballs and sliders as Jurrjens, but splits the rest between a curve and changeup. He has a nice K/BB ratio but he lets many on base and hasn’t been the best at preventing them from scoring.

Jorge Campillo
5 GS (18 GP), 2-0, 2.17 ERA, 2.77 FIP, 1.03 WHIP
45.2 IP, 38 H, 9 BB, 38 K
74.8% LOB, .278 BABIP, 4.22 K/BB
FA: 86.6mph/34.5%, SL: 81.7mph/19.2%, CU: 71.0mph/12.4%, CH: 75.3mph/27.3%
As SP: 5 G, 24.1 IP, 22 H, 8 ER, 4 BB, 21 K, 2.96 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, .663 OPS
As RP: 13 G, 21.1 IP, 16 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 17 K, 1.27 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, .516 OPS

Almost 30 years old and still considered a rookie, Campillo pitched so well out of the pen he earned a spot in the rotation. Since joining he really has not disappointed. Campillo is the definitive example of a “comfortable 0-fer” as hitters will not be dominated by his pitching but could very easily find themselves 0-4 at the end of the day, wondering how this guy stopped them.

OK, so Jurrjens/Reyes/Campillo isn’t anywhere near Maddux/Smoltz/Glavine… but if Braves fans want to be discussing their Divisional Series opponents in October, you better believe these three will need to at the very least channel and sustain Steve Avery/John Burkett/Denny Neagle for the rest of the season.